Faculty and Staff

Principal Investigator - Jeffrey Kerby, MD, PhD

Dr. Kerby is an Associate Professor of Surgery, who serves in the Section of Trauma, Burns, and Critical Care, He recently joined the trauma faculty at UAB after serving as a trauma surgeon in the United States Air Force at Wilford Hall Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas. While in the military, Dr. Kerby participated in the development and validation of small, portable mobile field surgical teams which are currently being used by all branches of the service to provide surgical support for troops involved in military operations. His primary research focus was in field resuscitation techniques and he has published peer reviewed articles on the topic of hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers. Over the past year, he has worked closely with colleagues in the United States Navy and industry to develop a pre-hospital protocol utilizing a hemoglobin-based oxygen carrier for the field resuscitation of civilian patients with hemorrhagic shock. This protocol is now fully funded and will begin enrolling patients in the upcoming year. Dr. Kerby co-authored the protocol and will serve as a Senior Associate Investigator for the project.

Co-Principal Investigator: Henry E. Wang, MD, MS

Henry E. Wang, MD, MS, is Associate Professor and Vice Chair for Research, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is currently a lead investigator for the Alabama site of the NIH-funded Resuscitation Outcome Consortium. Originally from New Jersey, he completed medical school at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (New Brunswick, New Jersey) and Emergency Medicine residency training at Christiana Care Health System (Newark, Delaware). Dr. Wang was previously the University of Pittsburgh, where he completed fellowship training in Emergency Medicine, obtained Masters degrees in Public Health and Clinical Research, and served as academic faculty, distinguishing himself as a national leader in EMS research.

Dr. Wang is a health services researcher with expertise in prehospital emergency care. His primary focus is on the safety, effectiveness and system-wide organization of paramedic airway management techniques. Findings from his studies have motivated changes in the organization of prehospital care systems as well as the techniques applied in resuscitation. He is one of the few recipients of NIH funding for studies of prehospital care. He serves on the editorial boards of Annals of Emergency Medicine, the specialty’s leading scientific journal, and Prehospital Emergency Care. Dr. Wang also serves as an elected board member of the National Association of EMS Physicians.

Patrick L. Bosarge, MD, FACS

Dr. Bosarge is an Assistant Professor of Surgery, who serves in the Section of Trauma, Burns, and Surgical Critical Care. Dr. Bosarge is a native of Mobile, Alabama and has recently joined the trauma faculty after previously holding positions of Director of Surgical Critical Care at Johnson City Medical Center (TN) and Surgery Residency Program Director at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine. He attended medical school and residency at USA Medical Center in Mobile, as well as completing his fellowship in Trauma and Critical Care at the University of California, San Diego. Currently, Dr. Bosarge continues to serve in the United States Army Reserves as a trauma surgeon within the 629th Forward Surgical Team based in Indiana. His military experiences include having been deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and the Kosovo Campaign. Dr. Bosarge’s current research interests are focused on improving early hospital care for trauma patients in addition to transitioning novel ideas and techniques to benefit emergency medicine and surgical care. He and his colleagues are published in the peer reviewed literature in that regard.

Dr. Jean-Francois Pittet, MD

Dr. Pittet holds several faculty appointments at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) including the primary appointment of Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology. He also serves as Director of the Division of Critical Care and Perioperative Medicine. Originally from Fribourg, Switzerland, Dr. Pittet received his medical degree from the University of Lausanne (Switzerland). Dr. Pittet joined the UAB faculty in 2010 after nearly twenty years on staff at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and San Francisco General Hospital.

Dr. Pittet has received numerous grants from various agencies, including NIH, the U.S. Department of Defense, and American Lung Association. His most recent research effort has been focused on coagulation abnormalities and trauma; heat shock and lung fluid balance; and molecular mechanisms of acute lung injury. He is a regular member of the NIH Surgery, Anesthesiology, and Trauma study section reviewing grants several times a year. Dr. In addition, Pittet is Associate Editor for the Anesthesiology Journal.

Project Director: Shannon W. Stephens, NREMT-P, CCEMT-P

Shannon W. Stephens, NREMT-P, CCEMT-P, has worked in EMS for 19 years. He is currently an Instructor of Medicine and the Research Program Manager for the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He also serves as a Research Scientist for the UAB Center for Cardiovascular Biology, and the UAB Center for Emergency Care and Disaster Preparedness. He has worked on several disaster medicine and prehospital research trials including the NIH funded “Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium”, NHLBI funded "Early Access to Defibrillation for Victims of Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest”, HRSA funded "Rural Access to Emergency Devices”, DHS/FEMA funded “Healthcare Leadership and Administrative Decision-Making in Response to WMD Incidents course”, and the NLM funded “Advanced Network Infrastructure for Health and Disaster Management". He has published several manuscripts and presented nationally and internationally on EMS-related topics including advanced airway management, disaster medicine, sudden cardiac arrest, prehospital research, and severe traumatic injury. He actively serves on several national, state, and local committees and is a member of the American Heart Association, and the National Association of EMS Physicians.

Research Nurse: Carolyn Williams, RN, BSN, BSME

Ms. Williams recently joined the team at the Alabama Resuscitation Center as the Clinical Research Nurse Coordinator. She is an alumnus of UAB and holds both a Bachelors of Science in Nursing and Mechanical Engineering. She has worked as a Critical Care Nurse for more than 8 years with specific clinical focuses on trauma, burns, surgical, cardiac, transplant, pediatric and medical interdisciplinary areas. She is also a Flight Nurse and served as the first Charge Nurse and Nurse Educator for the Critical Care Transport Department at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital. She is an active member in both the local and national chapters of American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN). She also holds memberships in the Air and Surface Transport Nurses Association (ASTNA), the Alabama Society of Professional Engineers, the Society of Women Engineers and the National Society of Black Engineers.

Research Coordinator: Randal Gray, NREMT-P, CCEMTP, MA Ed.

Mr. Gray is currently an Instructor of Medicine for the Department of Emergency Medicine and has recently joined the team as a Research Coordinator for the Alabama Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium in addition to the Director of Office of Emergency Medical Services. He is the developer and coordinator of the curriculum for the Baccalaureate Degree track for Advanced EMT through the School of Health Professions and the Program Coordinator for the Critical Care Emergency Medical Transport Program in connection with the University of Maryland – Baltimore County. Mr. Gray is an alumnus of both Jacksonville State University, attaining a Bachelors of Science in Math, and University of Alabama at Birmingham, attaining a Masters of Arts in Education. He is a paramedic of 20 years and has served as an instructor/director of paramedic education at UAB and both a clinical and educational supervisor for a large urban-based EMS service. He serves on multiple national and local committees and is a member of National Association of EMS Physicians and National Association of EMS Educators.